Joey Redmond - My Blog

Super Autobachs was founded in Japan back in 1947. This was their store in Osaka and it was one of my favorite places to check out in Japan. It’s like a WalMart for aftermarket car parts.

Here were some cars in the parking lot of we found. Autobacs was the first place I found a EG6 in Japan!

Here was a van in the parking lot.

R34 Skyline sitting at Super Autobacs.

Last but not least a R32 Skyline in the lot.

Here is the Exedy Racing Clutches display setup at Autobachs in Osaka.

Here is a cutaway Mugen Twinloop that was on display with the Mugen parts.

Japanese McDonald’s and the cheese fries or chili fries they offer. Sweet!

These fries are made by putting your McDonald’s fries in a little pouch and shaka shaka shaka! Haha.

Last on my bus ride to Moriguchi Royal Pines hotel in Osaka.

I was so excited when I got the news we were going to visit J’s Racing. They are a legendary Honda racing team in Japan! They are most well known in the United States for their carbon fiber “whale” intakes and the teal valve cover. Right as you pulled into J’s Racing they had a TSX and s2000 parked right out front.

The Honda s2000 they had I somehow managed to not take a picture of the full body but here are some details including the engine and trunk.

Tucked in a far corner outside were some neglected Honda’s…starting with this DC2 Type R and a poor EF Hatch.

Two s2000’s were also parked in this back corner…..one caught my eye however but it is painted factory midnight blue which was a color only available in Japan. I wish they had this color in the states.

This Civic Type R pulled up as I was drooling on everything outside….a Civic Type R they just left on the street.

Once I got inside the shop I found the Honda Fit that I you can find on the American site and was blown away by it. It was so clean and the green EK Hatch they had sitting next to it just had a K series engine laying in it.

We also got to tour upstairs and check out their race engine preparation room and the shipping facilities.

We woke up way to early in the morning to grab a bullet train to Osaka from Tokyo. Tokyo Station was the biggest place underground I have ever seen and it was truly an amazing place to see. We grabbed some breakfast and made our way upstairs to the train.

The train ride took about three hours long and had more room than our airplane actually. It was also equipped with a vending machine and a smoking section for all the smokers we were with (everyone but me practically). Here was a photo from the train ride.

After we got into Osaka we went straight to Signal Auto / Show Up in Osaka. Signal Auto has a Formula D team they run in the United States and they also have a shop in Torrence, California.

Inside Signal Auto I found the R32 Skyline that was a cover car in Super Street about eight years ago. Notice the Exedy Racing Clutch sticker on the front bumper!

This older Toyota Celica was tucked away in a corner to get a good shot of but it was the sickest Celica I have ever seen! It was sitting on bronze Volk TE37’s.

I got around to visiting downtown Tokyo finally on Sunday after the Auto Salon. It was a blast and very similar in style to New York City.

This photo was taken right outside the convention center.

A huge ferris wheel from the subway just down the road from Magic Kingdom in Tokyo.

We arrived in Roppongi Hills after a long subway ride from Chiba and found a sign to Hollywood Plaza. Hollywood in Japan?

A Mercedes Benz in front of the Armani store in Roppongi. An Aston Martin V12 Vanquish flew by me while taking this photo.

This is one last shot from Roppongi Hills while walking on an overpass. We were trying to find a resteraunt that I am pretty sure didn’t exist.

We headed to the center of Tokyo after leaving Roppongi to grab some dinner. We scored some food at a place called First Kitchen which was fantastic. I had an egg hamburger which was awesome.

I spotted a DC2 Honda Integra Type R from the window at First Kitchen. I was way to excited about this to begin with but here you go…….

Here were some guys playing urban soccer that we found.

This was a sign at the subway station.

This was an advertisement for a movie called Taxi 4. Aside from missing Queen Latifah an actual taxi, the advertisement has a car flying through the air!? I dunno, it looks more like Crazy Taxi the movie. Someone do me a favor and send me this from Japan if you come across it in stores. I am anxious to see what it is all about.

This candy is called G Fresh! It is basically like those gummy Coca Cola bottle candies you can buy but they were like the Fanta Grape version. They were pretty good.

Check out the coverage I did for Tunerzine.com of the Tokyo Auto Salon which was sponsored by Wrecked Magazine.

Here is a direct link to the story/gallery.

Tokyo Auto Salon Coverage - Tunerzine.com

So after a fun full day at the Auto Salon we ventured to a hotel nearby and grabbed dinner. We were joined by a bunch of Exedy Japan employee’s and Exedy’s TAS model Ryoko Tanaka! She gave me her phlog link to keep check up on what she is up to. We told her she has to come to SEMA in 2008.

ameblo.jp/ryoooko/

I need to get more into phlogging, blogging is so 2003. I’ll work on it, I promise. Here is a shot of the crowd at the Exedy booth taking pictures of Ryoko at the show, crazy Japanese people……..

After dinner I ran to the convenient store with Dave Pankew from Performance Auto Sound and found this, Backstreet Boys Japan Tour 2008! Oh yes……sadly they weren’t playing in Chiba anytime soon. I didn’t even know all the Backstreet Boys were still alive?

Now the fun stuff…………….Strawberry Kit Kat bars which had to of been one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.

Some random choclate candy that tasted like Coco Puffs. Regardless it had the most awesome packaging I have ever seen.

Here was my Fanta Orange soda in a little aluminum can. These things were cool and kept your drinks much colder than our packaging.

Exedy Racing Clutches hooked Wrecked Magazine with over a full week in Japan! So to spread the thanks of Exedy to our fans we are going to hook you up with all the drifting cars we found at Tokyo Auto Salon! This place was a MOB!

This car was a show stealer for me! It was in the Dunlop Tires booth, new for 2008, a Nissan Skyline R35 GTR!

The D1 Grand Prix booth had a ton of arcade systems (we want one for the office! Send us an e-mail if you have a lead on how to snag one!) and some car models.

The Top Secret Nissan 350z (Z33) Drift car was in the D1GP booth.

The JUN booth showcased the Team Orange/Yukes Subaru WRX.

The Lotus Exige in the Exedy booth!

Dunlop Tires also had a R34 Skyline!

Here are some more D1 cars from the show! Enjoy, we are going to cover more of Japan in the next week from Exedy and we are going to hook it up with tons of cool coverage!

This was a post I did for Wrecked Magazine.

Tokyo Auto Salon Day 1

So I arrived in Japan around 4:00pm off my Northwestern flight. We hung around till about 5:30 when we hopped on the bus to Chiba. I Chiba we got a taxi to our hotel which is about 20 minutes from the Tokyo Auto Salon. We didn’t get to see/do much because most of the guys from Exedy were dieing due to jetlag and the fact that it was the wee hours of the morning back at home in Detroit. I took this from our taxi cab in Chiba, 711 in Japan!

and our taxi cab in Chiba.

For diner we ate at a local steakhouse that served beef from Australia. It was very good, I had the “thick steak.” They also served glass Coca-Cola! I went for a little stroll with Mr. Uno and our hotel happens to be right by a Honda dealership. This Honda Integra Type R was sitting right outside on the front lot. It’s list price was right around $2,000,000 yen. What a deal….I wish I could buy one of these in the states.

This is in our elevator, I think I might visit the public bath in the morning? Haha, I hope that is a swimming pool…..

Last but not least is myself sitting at my miniature desk in my hotel room. I went to the mart and scored some excellent Coca Cola products and this orange candy. No idea what it is but it tastes really good. More from me tomorrow, as we are going to the Tokyo Auto Salon! I cannot wait.

I swung downtown to check out the World of Wheels show with a couple friends and enjoy the rat rod/old school car scene. It was a great time and fairly large show with about 300 cars in attendance. We managed to dodge the crowd and attend Friday afternoon which was a great move.

Here are some shots of the rat rods from the show.

Here is an old school Ford.

I had to save the best for last….and if you know me I have been going on and on about these 50’s Oldsmobile coupes and how I really want one like yesterday. This one could use a better color scheme but here she is.

Two good friends of mine who are working on launching an interactive video broadcast website just opened up a studio in Buckhead. The location is awesome as it is wedged right between Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza. We literally walked to The Tavern at Phipps for lunch. They are planning on opening the studio to rentals soon!

Here is the entrance of the studio with Peach Magazine on the table, good taste!

This is right outside the main studio room.

I love this photo that lies over the reception desk.

This is right inside the studio room. They had it staged with backdrop and some cameras setup when I visited.

Thanks for letting me check it out guys and good look with the project. I will post more when they launch their website to keep you filled in.